


If One of Your Soulmates Told You to Go Jump in the River, Would You?

by TheYellowTurtle



Series: ZKDD 2020 [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fruits Basket au, Gen, No Beta We Just Cry, Pre-Katara/Zuko (Avatar), The Waterbending Scroll, Zhao is the Zodiac Killer, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zutara Drabble December 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28445538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheYellowTurtle/pseuds/TheYellowTurtle
Summary: Zuko always believed that his destiny was tied to the Avatar, he just never thought it would be in this way.(Day 30: Forever Family)
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: ZKDD 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076558
Comments: 9
Kudos: 21
Collections: ZK Drabble December 2020





	If One of Your Soulmates Told You to Go Jump in the River, Would You?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Fruits Basket AU. For those of you who don't know, Fruits Basket is a manga/anime that's about a girl becoming friends with a family that's cursed to turn into the Chinese Zodiac animals when someone of the opposite sex hugs them. The ideas about gender are a bit outdated, but it's still a touching story about overcoming trauma and found family. 
> 
> For this story, if anyone hugs one of the Zodiac members then they will transform. 
> 
> Also, the reincarnation cycle for the Zodiac members is backwards. The one for the Avatar is: Fire, Air, Water, Earth. The one for the Zodiac members is: Earth, Water, Air, Fire. 
> 
> CW: cussing, discussion of past character death, mentioned infanticide (The last two are in Zhao's section, so feel free to skip the last part if those make you uncomfortable).

A long time ago, the Avatar lived together in harmony with their twelve friends: the shirshu, the flying bison, the tiger seal, the jackalope, the dragon, the koi fish, the ostrich horse, the koala sheep, the winged lemur, the turtleduck, the polar bear dog, and the badgermole. 

Unfortunately, those idyllic days did not last forever. Strife was brewing between the Spirit and Human Worlds, and only the Avatar was capable of restoring balance. There was no choice, but to leave the Spirit World and to live among the humans. The Avatar was heartbroken to be separated from their closest friends, but they knew they must do so, or great calamity would befall the world. 

The Twelve understood why the Avatar must go, however, they could not bear to be parted from the one that had brought them all together. 

“We will follow you. We will join you in bringing balance to the Spirit and Human Worlds,” the Twelve told the Avatar. 

“Let us be together forever,” the Avatar responded with joy. “May we always find each other in every life. 

From that day onward, the Avatar has always been accompanied by members of the Twelve. For there is nothing on this planet that is more powerful than the bond between the Twelve and the Avatar. They are destined to be together. Forever. 

___

Everyone had always thought he was a fool for choosing to pursue the Avatar. 

Zuko had been given two avenues to regain his honor, and he had opted to search for the mythical figure that had been missing for over a century. His crew detested his decision, and Uncle… Uncle was apathetic towards his efforts at best; most likely disappointed he could not relive his glory days through his nephew. 

He knew others thought that he had given up, that he had never planned on returning to his place in the Fire Nation, that he was too weak and too much of a coward to hunt members of the Twelve. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

He would gladly struggle and fight for as long as possible because he knew his destiny. His destiny was to capture the Avatar, and the airbender’s reemergence had proven him correct. It was only a matter of time now. 

The first few attempts had gone astray, but Zuko had a good feeling about collaborating with the pirates to capture the waterbender to use as bait. It didn’t matter that Uncle did not agree with his methods, and that Zuko had to set off by himself with only a small squadron. He would prove Uncle and everyone else wrong; he had to. 

___

When you were one of the Twelve, touch was the most intimate of things. Any form of embrace would trigger the transformation, so most Zodiac members learnt to dance around it; learnt how to get out of the societal norms that would so often lead to falling into other’s arms. 

But Katara thrived on it. She patted heads, held hands, bumped shoulders, and kissed foreheads. She loved to touch others; to get as close as possible. She knew it was dangerous, but she loved it. She wanted others to know that she cared for them. 

Before Aang, she had only ever been hugged by her family. Some of her favorite memories were of when her mom would let her transform and spend the whole day cuddling together in the furs. (Only under duress would she admit that Sokka carrying her around like a polar dog pup were also some of her favorites). 

For her whole life, an embrace had only ever been a signifier of the utmost trust and affection. Hugs and cuddles were sacred, not a thing to be feared. 

However, that was before Aang and before leaving the Southern Water Tribe and before seeing the wanted posters of rumored members of the Twelve. 

That was before Zuko had snuck up on her, said that spirits awful line, and sent her careening back into the arms of one of the pirates. That was before time stopped for a moment and her stomach dropped and she thought to herself:  _ fuck _ . 

___

Katara expected to see a few things when she opened her eyes:

The puff of smoke from her transformation? Check. 

Her pile of clothes on the ground? Check. 

Pirates and Fire Nation soldiers charging at her? Check. 

What Katara was never expecting to see —not even after a thousand years — was a poof of smoke similar to her own clearing up, and a turtleduck emerging from a pile of red and gold armor. 

Before her mind could even form the question of what in the Four Nations just happened, one of the soldiers shouted, “Prince Zuko is a traitor! Seize him and the tiger seal!”

“Oh no you don’t,” the Pirate Captain sneered, “We’ll be the ones gettin’ the reward for the turtleduck and tiger seal.”

And then all hell broke loose. 

With all of her might, Katara bounced her way between the fighting pirates and soldiers, biting and tail whipping as she went. She needed to get to the river; outswimming them was the only plausible method of escape. 

She was almost there, the water practically touching her flippers, when she heard a familiar raspy voice command, “Get back! I’m your Prince!” followed by hisses of pain. 

Zuko. 

Her enemy. The boy who relentlessly chased them around the world, trying to kidnap Aang and destroy any chance at peace. And the boy, who apparently was one of her soulmates. One of the people she had shared countless lifetimes with maintaining balance. The boy who was near the water, but was too busy breathing fire at the advancing troops to notice his surroundings. 

She didn’t know why he spent so long pursuing them when he could have joined them, but she did know that he needed some help. And Katara never turned her back on people who needed her. 

So she screamed, “Zuko! Go jump in the river!” 

___

Zuko did not know what was happening. 

He did not know why one of his men stumbling into him caused a tiny explosion. He did not know why he’s suddenly the size of a cat. He did not know why he appeared to have a beak and a shell now. He did not know why his men were calling him a traitor. 

Zuko only knew one thing: the spirits hated him. 

So he ran because the men chased him. He screamed because they further besmirched his honor with lies. He breathed fire because they attacked him. 

He was disconnected from reality; the only thing that felt real was the pounding in his ears and the churning of his stomach. 

“Zuko! Go jump in the river!” 

It was the waterbender. The tiger seal. She called to him from the river bank, slapping her fins against the water for emphasis. “Jump in the river!” 

So he jumped. 

___

  
  


There was a saying in the Fire Nation navy:  _ A decent sailor knows the changes of the tides; a great sailor knows the cycles of the Twelve _ . 

As important as the knowledge contained in the official seafaring manual was, it did not bring glory to their homeland. Any average Lee could spew off the fuel consumption rate of a Fire Nation cruiser; only the greatest of men could present the Fire Lord with a member of the Twelve in chains. And even then, only the best of them would be permitted to carry out the execution themselves. 

Captain Zhao had been granted this honor thirteen times. In fact, he was the most successful hunter of the Twelve in the history of the Fire Nation. Not even the Dragon of the West, with a measly count of three kills, could compare to him. There was a reason the old man was wasting away on a dilapidated rust bucket, and Zhao was being heralded as the Zodiac Killer. 

Yes, Zhao was quite proud of his accomplishments, but he wanted more. He had brought thirteen members of the Twelve to their knees before the people of Caldera City, but four of those had been repeats. And where was the glory in that? 

No one had ever managed a complete set, but Zhao would most definitely be the first. The jackalope, koi fish, and turtleduck were the only ones left. 

The jackalope was still at large in the Earth Kingdom, but was most likely under the protection of Omashu’s Mad King. After dealing with the Northern Water Tribe, Omashu would be the next stronghold to fall to the Fire Nation. 

The koi fish had always been the trickiest of the Twelve to catch. This was not due to the koi fish being particularly intelligent or skillful, but simply because it was a creature cursed with terrible luck. Most parents were terrified when their newborn transformed into a fish, and by the time they realized what was happening; their fish child had already suffocated. As a result, it was impossible to know for sure how many incarnations of the koi fish had been reborn since the start of the Hundred Year War. 

The koi fish of the Zodiac would be an excellent addition to his collection, but Zhao had it on good authority that there’s an even better prize in the Northern Water Tribe. Besides, it’s been at least two decades since the North had presented the Fire Nation with one of the Twelve, perhaps Zhao would come across a pleasant surprise during his expedition. 

And then there was the turtleduck. After confirmation that the previous turtleduck had been an Earth Kingdom warrior, Zhao had been scouring the Poles for rumors. He had assumed the next would be of Water descent, but oh how shortsighted he had been. 

How could he have forgotten how often Earth liked to mix themselves with others? The warrior had not been an Earth incarnation, but one of Air. 

The current cycle was Fire. And after reading the memo on his desk about reports of pirates seeing a scarred boy transform into a turtleduck, he knew exactly who to look for. 

Zhao had always enjoyed the hunt, but this was shaping up to be his favorite. It’s not everyday you get to kill a prince, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope some of you enjoyed this~ 
> 
> Please let me know what you think because I was thinking of expanding on this AU for the [Zutara Big Bang](https://zkbigbang.tumblr.com/). Honestly, it would be more like a gen fic, but zutara would still be present. For those of you who are familiar with Fruits Basket, I think the curse breaking plot line would fit really well with what Aang's arc in book three was supposed to be. 
> 
> The Chinese Zodiac in ATLA:  
> -Rat = shirshu (1984, 1996, 2008)  
> -Ox = flying bison (1985, 1997, 2009)  
> -Tiger = tiger seal (1986, 1998, 2010)  
> -Rabbit = jackalope (1987, 1999, 2011)  
> -Dragon = dragon (1988, 2000, 2012)  
> -Snake = koi fish (1989, 2001, 2013)  
> -Horse = ostrich horse (1990, 2002, 2014)  
> -Sheep = koala sheep (1991, 2003, 2015)  
> -Monkey = winged lemur (1992, 2004, 2016)  
> -Rooster = turtleduck (1993, 2005, 2017)  
> -Dog = polar bear dog (1994, 2006, 2018)  
> -Pig = badgermole (1995, 2007, 2019) 
> 
> If you have a birthday in January or February, then make sure to check when Spring Festival took place that year to know which animal you are. 
> 
> This is an AU I'm still developing, so I would love to talk about it with others :) This is my [tumblr](https://the-yellowturtle.tumblr.com/), if you wanna say hi.


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